


Game of Roses.

by Honeyrobincreamcake



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: A totally unhappy story, Cultural Exploration, Cultural shaming, Gen, Guesswork, Hybrids, I like happy stories, Minus the dismembering but including the mutilation, Not related to the Game of Thrones, Reminiscent of Medieval times "Hanged Drawn Quartered", Standalone, Tagging feels like giving away spoilers sometimes, Under construction, but I like it.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2018-12-24 22:46:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12022653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeyrobincreamcake/pseuds/Honeyrobincreamcake
Summary: "The destruction of Atollon has claimed many lives and will go down in history as the first major loss the rebellion faced but let's not forget the losses stretch far beyond Atollon, while few will be recorded none will be forgotten." That's a lovely paradox of a sentiment, one he's sure he'll appreciate later but honestly, right now Kallus just wishes he’d known what he was going up against that night, because cultural shaming can be a painful beast.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m going to warn you up front, this is not going to be pretty and it is rated accordingly, there are a lot of implications and a few incidents of descriptive violence are sprinkled throughout. Blame it on the medieval history books I’ve studied. They were too strong. What happened to Kallus is going to be clearer in the coming chapters, however if you would like to you can read up on the practices involved in "Hanged drawn and Quartered" and interesting and disturbing subject to read about. Rest assured, Kallus has not endured a full force hanging drawing and quartering but a partial and thorough one.  
> Based off of the Chiss concept art of Kallus, I almost wished they'd used it. But they didn't, but at least I can write about hybrids now! All. Night. Long.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First chapter has been edited, the others will be done shortly.

If anyone had wandered into the cargo bay and saw him staring blankly at the ceiling they would have thought he was losing it and perhaps they’d be right. The ball of muddledemotions he was feeling was both devastating and exhilarating.

He was alive, Kallus hadn’t expected that, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t glad, he was indirectly responsible for the deaths of countless rebels and that filled him with a type of grief he didn’t think he was capable of feeling. Kallus was free from the empire and all it entailed, and he couldn’t express the joy he felt about that, but he was acutely aware that he had defected on the worse possible note, after the humiliation he faced at the comm tower it was clear the empire didn’t take betrayal lightly, if the empire managed to capture him again, he’d be executed on site or worse dragged back to Thrawn and his deathtroopers.

Kallus knew better than most that Chiss held the worst kind of grudges. In Kallus’s book his escape hardly made up for the torture Thrawn’s deathtroopers had put him through, but then again he and Thrawn probably weren’t reading the same book, especially not at the moment, if Thrawn had still been angry with him after they left the comm tower and the fact that Thrawn had highly implied he wanted to cut Kallus’s tongue out with a pair of scissors assured him he was, Kallus shivered to think about the fury Thrawn was feeling towards him right now, no doubt he was thinking up an even crueler punishment than the one he endured on Lothal.

Kallus couldn’t fathom anything worse, but then again he also hadn’t thought that there was nothing worse than Thrawn catching him, he’d been wrong, Thrawn knew him, his past and his insecurities and the Chiss had used it to his advantage, it didn’t make sense to Kallus why Thrawn seemed to set on making him crack, imperial traitors were interrogated, imprisoned and often executed depending on the severity of their crimes, they weren’t beaten and humiliated in a public setting, now that his mind was clearer Kallus was slowly becoming aware that the abuse he endured was both a -hopefully- distorted representation of an Imperial arrest and straightforward execution of the Csilla honor tolls his mother seemed so fond of telling him about when he was a child, specifically the murder of Itandra of Rose. Granted, Thrawn had called his men off before the scene was completed, likely because there were no nearby trees to hang him from, it did little to subtract from the mortification he felt or the fact that he had to be carried on board because he was too weak to move.

He'd stayed that way until Thrawn had given him a bacta patch and reminded Kallus he couldn’t die yet, he had a trial. His condition improved enough that Pryce had expressed disappointment that Thrawn hadn’t had him roughed up enough, in that moment Kallus had wished a fate far worse than death on her. The small piece of him that belonged to his mother was morbidly fascinated at being a part of such brutal and ancient tradition and despite the larger part of him begging it to stop that fraction of Kallus was his mother’s child. It replayed the events mercilessly, slowly and meticulously examining the attack looking for inaccuracies, it praised Thrawn for his passive role, overseers were historical necessities after all. It zeroed in on the bloody moment, on the parts he was missing, it trilled Itandra’s name and sent a thrill of intrigue so sickening his legs almost gave out, it bemoaned the fact that he was a male but was satisfied with the overall accuracy of the attack. It had many qualms however about the lack of an execution Mother’s piece fussed endlessly over it, he should have been hanged, left to bleed out of the sloppily sutured gash in his abdomen for the sake of historical accuracy.

Mother’s piece always had a tendency to make Kallus feel ill, on most days it made him feel like a monster today it made him feel like machinist, it was yet another confusing emotion in the storm of grief, joy and agony one he desperately wanted to go away, he had endured enough confusion that night without his mind adding more. Why did it always seem like he was the only one being affected by his father’s infidelity? His father should be the one cursed with a mind that worked like mother’s not him. Unfortunately genetics didn’t work that way.

“Can we breathe just for a moment?” Kallus whispered knowing it was in vain. Mother’s piece never shut up, it would apply appreciative statements to the torture he endured for months on end. He would have to learn to ignore them, after all his mother had always had a way of appreciating the art of a tragic situation from miscarriages to gruesome murders, it made sense that her only offspring inherited the “gift” as well.

But if Kallus was correct and the attack had been a cultural reenactment, then it made even less sense than it had before. Torturing a full-blooded human Coruscanti using Csilla methods would be ineffective at best and senseless at worst, unless of course Thrawn knew something the empire didn’t and that was something Kallus refused to believe, Thrawn was good, but he wasn't that good.

Nonetheless, Kallus knew it didn’t need to make sense right now, the reason behind the attack was of no importance at the moment, Thrawn’s goal was to break him and for a time it had worked, he'd been reserved and terrified for most of the flight, until the bacta kicked in, and he began to feel indignant. Unfortunately there was little he could do while in restraints and breaking out of them would quickly lead to another beating. So he bided his time and tossed out as many vindictive comments he could think of, even then he hadn’t expected to survive the encounter, but he planned to use the strength he had to go out fighting, to remind Thrawn he wasn’t easily broken and it would take more than torturing and mutilation to make him crack, even if Kallus doubted the truth in that statement Thrawn had no reason given his quick recovery.

But now the bacta patch and what ever Thrawn had used to stop the bleeding was wearing off and the gravity of the situation hit him like a brick wall.

This was not going to end well.

He was either going to die in the cargo bay or swallow his pride and ask for help neither of those options were appealing to Kallus, but he didn’t come this far just to fall over and die even if death offered less humiliation. Pressing his head against the cold railing Kallus tried to work up the energy to move and beat back the stubbornness that kept him rooted in place murmuring angry words Kallus managed to turn himself around so he was facing the wall now all he had to do was turn towards the cockpit ladder, Kallus felt so proud of himself.

Small victories.

Now all he had to do was climb the ladder. “Good luck with that “ Kallus practically heard his limbs say mockingly, they ached and blood from his wounds were beginning to trickle into his boots.

“God help me.” Kallus whispered in complete horror, he had marooned himself, in a cargo bay of all places.

“Do you plan on talking to yourself in here the whole trip?” Zeb asked gruffly as he slid the ladder, Kallus hadn’t even heard him approaching, he was losing his touch already. “I’ve always found the upper deck better for that.”

Huh, he’d never taken Zeb as one to talk to himself, unless he counted his frequent usage of karabast, but Kallus welcomed the change in subject, he had no idea how to respond to Zeb’s first question, so he was going to assume it was rhetorical.

“And why is that?” Kallus asked managing to sound less exhausted than he felt.

“There’s an echo down here.” Zeb said with a shrug.

“Well, that would make sense.” Kallus agreed weakly, there was something on the Lasat’s mind he hadn’t come down here to talk about echoes.

“What are you doing down here anyway?” Zeb asked changing the subject again, that wasn’t what he wanted to know either, but it was another question Kallus struggled to answer.

“I don’t know.” Kallus admitted after a moment of silence, it was the truth he couldn’t remember what had possessed him to come down here, must have been a subconscious desire to self-destruct.

"You’re bleeding." Zeb said flatly, Kallus wiped his mouth but the Lasat was staring at the ground not his face, he followed Zeb’s gaze to the scarlet puddle on the metal floor. Curse imperial clothing, after all these years they were finally betraying him with their poor absorbent qualities. “A lot Kallus.”

Kallus suddenly felt very uncomfortable both for making a mess of the Ghost and for forgetting to tell Zeb his first name. But in his defense, sometimes Kallus forgot he even had a first name.

“Yes, I was trying to create a pool down here.” Kallus said after a moment, telling the truth was easier said than done and sometimes sarcasm worked just as well. “In hindsight, it wasn’t the best idea.”

“Where- Have you seen the medic yet?” Zeb asked his expression unreadable.

_Obviously not._

“What medic?” Kallus asked as far as he knew the ghost didn’t have a medicine droid, but then again he’d never asked.

“Most of Dodonna’s boys are trained, well training, in medicine they’re helping out with the injured.” Zeb supplied quickly, he seemed transfixed by the oozing blood. “You weren’t bleeding like this earlier.”

That was true, when he boarded the Ghost for all intents purposes he looked pretty good for having escaped an imperial ship, a black eye and a few scrapes were nothing to worry about, but his injuries far exceeded a few scrapes.

“Apparently Thrawn’s medical improvisations don’t last forever.” Kallus groaned.

“Thrawn did this?”

“No.” Kallus muttered.  _His troopers did_.

The room was beginning to spin, Kallus would have fallen backwards over the railing if Zeb hadn’t grabbed his shoulder.

“Kallus?” Zeb called a worried tone creeping into his voice.

“Yes?”

“You need to be seen.”

The idea of children tending to his injuries was almost laughable, but he allowed Zeb to scoop him up and lug him up the ladder. The medicine really was wearing off, every thundering step Zeb took sent a jolt of pain through him by the time they crossed the threshold Kallus was in agony he couldn’t contain and his screams echoed throughout the Ghost. There were eyes on them, searching, confused and distrustful but Kallus didn’t notice them, Zeb turned quickly veering into an open brightly colored room crowded with young men. They were indeed boys as Zeb had told him, most of them were no older than Ezra some were even younger, if he wasn’t in so much pain Kallus would have cringed to imagine what must have happened for these boys to be in the rebellion at such a young age.

Where were their parents?

But Kallus was in too much pain to give it a second thought.

“You’re tearing my stitches.” He hissed, barely audible as Zeb switched his grip to Kallus's torso his sharp claws scratching against the crudely done sutures.

“What stitches?” Zeb asked bemused. “Karabast! Where is all this blood coming from?”

Somehow Kallus managed to shrug.

 

“What do we have here?” One of the boys asked nervously as he finished applying a bacta patch to another rebel who took one look at Zeb and scurried from the room.

“An emergency!” Zeb snapped.

_Obviously._

“I know that- I just.” The boy stuttered then sighed. “Where is he bleeding from?”

“Places, everywhere. Quite the usual.” Kallus put in incoherently. “Obviously not.”

“Put him on the bed.” The boy instructed motioning to the makeshift cot that was actually a caf table covered in blankets and pillows.

“Table.” Kallus corrected feeling almost drunk, Zeb ignored the comment and lowered him gingerly onto the “bed”. Laying flat made Kallus even more dizzy, and he groaned in displeasure, this was going down hill quickly.

“Can you get his shirt off?” The boy asked, standing a distance away from the carnage.

“ I’m going to get some more bacta patches.” Zeb complied managing to quickly break down the armor and started to remove his shirt while the boy rifled through a large medical pack coming up with a handful of patches at the same time Zeb freed his shirt.

“Karabast.” Zeb hissed and the boy almost dropped his bacta patches, the other boys shrunk back. “Kallus what is this?” From his place on the table Kallus wrinkled his nose, black spots danced around the room, he didn't know if he'd another chance, and dying a surname wasn't how he imagined going out. Honestly he imagined dying in a flaming ball of glory, But that was another story.

“Alexsandr.”

“Who?”

“Me.”

“We’re going to need more bacta.” The boy cut in anxiously.

“Were going to need more blood.” Zeb added in disbelief, Kallus managed to lift his head high enough to see his abdomen.

Oh, so Zeb had ripped his stitches. Mother’s piece screamed about historical inaccuracy and Kallus flopped back down. The anchor shaped incision on his lower abdomen looked even cruder than before, then again the last time Kallus had seen the wound it had been dark.

Now it open again flowing freely, if he remembered correctly the wound went deep and since deathtroopers had missed their mark more than once and had used a military knife to make it, the incision probably looked less than pleasant from his caretakers viewpoint than his.

The kid would probably be messed up for life.

“Gregory get Dodonna! Kelsee we need a cauterizer and thread now!” But he was strong, and so we’re the other boys with him despite the terror in their eyes they leaped into action. "Help me get the rest of his clothes off!" Zeb complied without question, the next few seconds were a painful blur and Kallus passed out in the middle of them, he didn’t need to stay awake he already knew the prognosis.

Unfortunately no one else on the ship would, Thrawn was good at covering the tracks he wanted to stay hidden while leaving the rest in plain sight. Still Itandra’s suffering would be made known at his expense and that of any offspring he might have sired given the chance. Itandra hadn’t gotten the opportunity to live through her mutilation and subsequent dishonoring she was left hanging by her intestines from a frozen tree in the Csilla tundra, the products of her dishonoring a bloody pile at her feet, almost half of his were on the dusty planet far, far from the Ghost, he had escaped execution for now, but the scars would haunt him long after they had healed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter edited.

How had things gone so wrong?

It was a question Zeb kept asking himself, earlier that morning they had been about to liberate Lothal now they were reeling from the shock of an Imperial assault that nearly wiped them out and left their inside man on the brink of death. He glanced down at said inside man and sighed, he wasn't bleeding anymore, he and Dodonna had taken care of that, but he wasn't doing much better either.

"He's as stable as it's going to get right now." Had been Dodonna's assessment, there were no promises in that statement and Zeb didn't bother looking for any. Kallus, or Alexsandr if Zeb had heard him correctly, was breathing shallowly in the makeshift bed since moving him would likely make things worse the boys had decided to move their impromptu med station to the common room. For the most part Kallus hadn't woken up which for the most part was a good thing since the boys' med packs didn't include pain medication but it did nothing to ease Zeb's nerves.

Zeb should have expected something like this to happen, but he hadn't been able to it was something he preferred not to think about, Kallus- Alexsandr, it was going to take Zeb a long time to get used to calling him a new name, was smart, and for a time Zeb allowed himself to believe he was smart enough to outsmart the empire. That had been a silly notion, the empire wasn't just a thing, it wasn't a single entity, it was a collection of powerful and intelligent individuals and Kallus couldn't have possibly outsmarted all of them for long. Playing the role of a mole was a dangerous task and under the empire, it was one that would likely end in execution, but on the receiving end of a firing squad not a knife. The empire was a nasty lot, Zeb was very aware of that, but as far he knew the empire didn’t run around trying to eviscerate their enemies.

At least not literally.

Zeb figured Thrawn must have lost his mind, this wasn't the mark of a poised, cunning individual it was a brutal and failed attempt at an execution or at least that’s what Zeb kept telling himself, he was in no mood to entertain the alternative. That what was in front of him was actually an attempt to make sure that if the rebellion got anything from the empire it was damaged goods. It was a horrible thought one that Zeb had been avoiding ever since Dodonna and his boys left the room, he refused to think of their new fulcrum as damaged after he had put so much on the line for his former enemies. But it did make more sense than a botched execution, if Thrawn was as smart as he was made out to be it was feasible that he would have a backup plan in case Kallus escaped his custody. Making sure the rebellion only had access to a dying or broken imperial turncoat was a tactical move and a good one at that, Zeb could admit that, even if made him uneasy to think the Admiral was always a step ahead of them regardless of what route the rebellion took.

But the gruesome scene he’d witnessed added weight to that fear, after Dodonna had come in and stopped the boys from going crazy with the cauterizer he and Zeb had managed to staunch the bleeding and clean the gash enough to see into it, while Zeb had seen far worse on Lasan and he didn’t flinch much at gore anymore, the damage had been unnerving. Zeb didn’t have the strongest grasp on human anatomy, but he was sure it wasn’t drastically different from other mammals, he had a basic understanding of what should be in a human’s lower ventral cavity and necklaces and metal clips weren’t included in that knowledge. But fearing those objects were holding something unseen together they’d decided to leave them alone until they reached Yavin.

Except the necklace, they’d taken that out.

It was on the dresser wrapped in a sheet of plastic, Dodonna had insisted on preserving its current state for the council’s viewing pleasure. It was understandable, while Hera and Ezra’s experience with Thrawn on Ryloth had been helpful, but it was nothing like this, this was the first time the rebellion would get a real chance to evaluate the way Thrawn worked, outside of the battlefield, to try to make sense of his methods to their advantage. Though Zeb doubted the necklace would be very helpful, even in combination with Kallus’s injuries they still didn’t know enough about to Thrawn to understand the significance, if any, of the jewelry. The more Zeb looked at the chain the more it confused him, it was a simple silver chain with a gold spiral pendant.

Spirals stood for various thing throughout the galaxy from surrender to dedication, there were a million and one things that necklace could mean and it would be impossible for the rebellion to decide on just one of them, not when they knew nothing of Thrawn or his culture and Zeb doubted it meant anything to Kallus, he had been raised on Coruscant, during a time when many cultures and their symbols were being rejected or tailored to fit a mainstream preference when the empire had come and washed it all away demanding conformity Kallus had been a teenager, young enough to have any possible family traditions worked out of him. And so the necklace remained a mystery, much more so than the weak nylon thread Thrawn had used to close the wound, that was no mystery at all, the sutures had been designed to fail they were poorly placed and under strain they would have snapped even if it wasn’t for Zeb’s claws.

The stitches were just another piece of the puzzle that more or less confirmed Zeb’s fears, Thrawn had planned for Kallus’s escape and set up roadblocks to ensure his failure, why else would a high ranking imperial officer be carrying around sub par clothing thread that didn’t even match his uniform? Zeb’s ears flattened, he blamed himself even if it was unreasonable, somehow, someway he had dragged Kallus into the rebellion, Zeb wished he'd just dragged him onto the Ghost instead, then they wouldn't be having this problem right now. Zeb found himself sighing again, he was smart enough to realize this was primarily Thrawn's fault, even if Kallus denied it, he had been in the man’s custody the entire night and Zeb had been a part of the honor guard long enough to know that some victims cast blame off their attackers in an effort to protect themselves, mentally or physically, in Kallus's case it was probably the former.

Leaning over his friend, were they friends now? They were on the same side now, Kallus had proven that, so it seemed they were, Zeb picked at the dried blood in his hair and sniffed him lightly, Kallus smelled primarily of blood and something oddly sweet, but the scents of the others lingered from Dodonna, his boys and Zeb himself, the familiar smell of the Ghost was beginning to embed itself on to him courtesy of the blanket he was wrapped in. There were stale scents, most human and some not, Zeb didn't recognize them, but he assuredly wouldn't forget them, not when he had a clue who they belonged to. Despite the plethora of scents, if he excluded the strange sweetness there was nothing particularly strange about the way his friend smelled and that came as some form of relief, though not by much there was still something very odd about the situation and Zeb's nose wasn't telling him what.

So he continued picking, It helped nothing, but it was something to do and soon flakes of Kallus's blood added to the gore on the floor, Sabine probably wouldn't be too happy about that, but she would have been even less pleased if they'd used her bed as an examining table. Zeb looked around the brightly colored quarters surveying the damage, the floor was a splotchy, slippery crimson, there was blood on the dresser as well as a burn mark from where one of the boys left the caterizer running, stained gloves littered the room. The walls had escaped the brunt of it except for a bloody hand print or two, those had come from Dodonna's boys. It was a good thing Sabine was going to help her clan, hopefully it would give them enough time to clean up her room without her noticing. Zeb just hoped she didn't need to get anything from her room before she left.

That would not be a pretty sight. The room stunk, of chemicals, blood and fear it was enough to make Zeb feel woozy, he knew he should leave if only for a moment to clear his head and suffering sinuses, but he couldn't bring himself to move or even call for someone to take his place. If he left and Kallus woke up or worse... No, he wouldn't think about that. Eventually he would have to report the incident to Hera even if he didn’t fully understand the situation himself, but for now he would wait, watch and pray his friend kept breathing because Kallus was his responsibility and Lasats didn't shirk responsibility even for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so more the story marches on, I will admit I'm starting to like this story even if it makes me feel a little sad sometimes.  
> I have already written the third chapter but I might end up rewriting it entirely, I don't know, I'm trying to get a nice chunk of these chapters out before school starts back.  
> I need to write a happy story one of these days.  
> Any who God bless and have a good day!
> 
> Oh and is it Lasat or Lasats? I can't seem to remember.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yavin, two months after Atollon.  
> And here we will find out what really happened to Kallus, mostly.

The sting of defeat still hung in the air, but a mere two months after Thrawn’s attack the rebels were holding themselves with an air of determination again. They had stopped prying for details, they were beginning to accept him, and he was becoming more like them with each passing day. Gone was the stiff posture he had learned in the Imperial Academy, and the hair that never seemed to be out of place was now a blonde mop around his face.

"A little less perfect and a little more approachable." Bridger had put it the last time they'd seen each other, that was over a month ago and Kallus still remembered the sentiment, he'd taken it fondly. There was a mounting sense of excitement building in his chest but Kallus kept it under control as he weaved through the base. The medical droid, Deetdee, the one with a dry sense of humor and short fuse had finally given him permission to stop visiting the med bay on a regular basis, it was a relief and exactly what the council had been waiting for.

Now that it was clear he wasn't about to kneel over, they could actually put him to good use. The investigation if it could be called that - into Thrawn's behavior on Lothal had been fruitless, Kallus liked to think he shared no fault in that failure, despite the little voice in the back of his mind that thought he threw a wrench in the whole process. After all, Kallus had been forthcoming, he answered all the questions thrown at him, he confirmed that Thrawn's Deathtroopers had tortured him outside the comm station, he didn't disclose how and the council assumed the stitched up incision was answer enough, it wasn't, not even close. Deetdee had grudgingly admitted, when pressed by the council, Kallus was missing a sizable piece of his lower intestines. Kallus didn't elaborate on that as he wasn't asked to. Kallus had easily confirmed the empire did not routinely torture traitors in such a manner. He merely watched as the council grappled to understand Thrawn's actions, he didn't tell them the attack was an ancient tradition from Csilla, reserved as a punishment for high treason.

Because as far as the rebellion was concerned Alexsandr Kallus was a human and human's didn't know about Chiss tradtions, most humans and even non-humans didn't even know what a Chiss was. The sickeningly sweet-smelling chemical they'd found traces brought on a lot of questions. What was it? Was a new chemical weapon being produced by the empire? Kallus had answered those questions carefully; he didn’t tell them Thrawn had used the pink substance to slow the bleeding, he confirmed it wasn't being produced by the empire, in fact it was from Csilla, his mother had been fond of drinking it.

He had struggled over the necklace though. He hadn't known Thrawn had it placed in there but Kallus did recognize it and he almost choked when he saw it. Thrawn was mocking him. The council had taken his staring as a sign of bewilderment and moved on, trying to get him to identify the Deathtroopers, he hadn't been able to. Kallus hadn't told them the significance of the pendant, under normal circumstances it wouldn't have sparked any particular interest, the meaning was almost universal, but the spiral had a lot of meanings and if Kallus picked "fertility" it would most certainly result in him supplies proof to validate his line of thought. Kallus wasn't in the mood for that. So he didn't tell the council about the spiral, or his mother, the Chiss teenager who fell in love with his less than loyal father on an off world trip. Kallus didn't tell them she'd chased him as far as Coruscant to see him after surrendering him to his father, to pass on knowledge, help him understand his own odd mind, and watch him be raised by the man who broke her heart and a woman who hated her with every fiber of her being. Kallus didn't tell them what the attack meant to him or to Thrawn, he didn't tell them why Thrawn had his men hack a chunk of his intestines out, that the Deathtroopers had hesitated when given the orders, even they were uncomfortable with the situation but good soldiers follow orders, so they did.

Kallus didn't tell them Thrawn was preserving a holorecording of the event for future generations and Kallus most certainly didn't tell the council the attack had sterilized him, even DeetDee didn't know that, Thrawn really was good at covering his tracks, enough to escape the scrutiny of a medical droid. It wasn't that big of a deal, plenty of men and women underwent sterilization and didn't walk around moping about it afterwards, the council probably would have laughed if he'd revealed that unimportant bit of information. That was what Kallus kept telling himself, that it was nothing, that he shouldn't still be having nightmares at least not about that part of his ordeal. Others had endured far worse so why was he feeling bad for himself? On Coruscant fertility was a hit and a miss, it was nothing to brag about or hold onto after all there were plenty of ways to have a child on that overpopulated planet.

But on Csilla fertility was as prized as virginity, having it stolen was a terrible assault, but unlike other civilized planets such assault was often viewed as acceptable, provided it was handed down as a punishment and followed by death. Kallus resisted those thoughts, he was only half Chiss, a near human plus a human should very well produce a mostly human offspring, regardless of his mother's insistence that he had a Csilla condition to thank for his features for. Kallus been raised by two humans one of which was a stepmother who did everything in her power to suppress his heritage.

"You look like a human; you act like a human, you are one." She had reminded him grumpily when he almost checked "other" on the census sheet, eventually Kallus started to believe her, even now he identified with humans more than not. On Coruscant the attack would either mean "torture" or "free service" depending on who he asked, he shouldn't be concerned about what it meant on Csilla, it shouldn't sting as much as it did, he shouldn't still cry when he was left alone to his thoughts.

_It's no big deal. Getting hurt is part of doing the right thing._ Thankfully Kallus's internal mantra was beginning to pay off the rebellion deemed him both physically and mentally stable enough to be assigned to a post. That was the reason for the excitement bubbling in his chest; Kallus had been assigned to a post he was too proud to admit he was overjoyed about. Mon Mothma had requested it, Hera had agreed, he was being assigned to the Ghost.

Today was the first day he would see them as more than just allies and he was as nervous as he was excited, he still had no clue what his role in the Phoenix squadron would be or even if they'd get along in close quarters but the fact remained he knew them better than the other rebels on Yavin, and if he was being honest with himself, he missed them. Kallus had spent nearly three years chasing them around the galaxy, and it felt strange to take such a leave of absence. There were five figures instead of six, Sabine was still with her clan and likely would be for some time.

"But she's coming back." Ezra assured him when he noted her absence, Zeb slapped him playfully on the shoulder and laughed. "So it looks like you're bunking with one of us, pink isn't your color anyway." The Lasat had snickered. And so Kallus found himself sharing a room for the first time in years.

It was better than the medbay and DeetDee's hovering, still Kallus desperately wished Zeb didn't snore so loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, we're moving along a bit faster now, I didn't plan on revealing so much so soon, but hey it seemed right.  
> Hope you have a better night than Kallus is!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the updated chapter four, five will be up soon.

_With herculean effort Kallus dragged himself across the sand, his fingers sunk in the soft substance making it nearly impossible to keep moving. It took all the strength he had to keep his head from falling into the sand. If that happened again he’d suffocate, Kallus was sure of it. Behind him Thrawn trailed leisurely after him, the troopers stalked closer blasters raised and trained on Kallus._

_“Agent Kallus, please return to your post.” Thrawn said his tone eerily polite. “We are not finished yet.”_

_“_ _Just shoot me already!” Kallus wanted to yell, his defiance would follow him to the death, but he couldn’t every time he opened his mouth to try, a cloud of sand threatened to choke him. The grit was annoying and aggravated the wound in his mouth, he swallowed the grainy clot of blood forming in his mouth. Pressure mounted in his head and Kallus wanted nothing more than to scream in frustration, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go, he was supposed to be a hero, to warn the rebellion of Thrawn’s plan and save them. Not doom everything they’d worked so hard for. Kallus renewed his efforts, digging his fingers into the shifting sand he yanked himself along._

_Thrawn would catch him, the troopers would drag him back to the tower, it was inevitable but Kallus refused to accept it. If the rebels had taught him one it was to believe in the impossible._

_“Why do you insist on wasting our time Kallus?” Thrawn wondered sounding genuinely curious. “We are in desert, your friends are not near, you are bleeding and my men are armed.”_

_Thrawn was right, his efforts were in vain._

_“Do you not want to die at the tower?” Thrawn asked still following quite a distance behind, giving Kallus the faintest bit of false hope. If he could just move a little faster._

_“No.” Kallus barely recognized the groan as his own, it was so small and broken he almost mistook it for the wind._

_“Then we will move your post.” Thrawn said like he was doing Kallus a favor. “Sanitize your knives and proceed.”_

_It took Kallus a painful second to realize Thrawn was no longer talking to him but the Deathtroopers behind them. Thrawn’s directive was vague but Kallus for reasons he couldn’t explain knew exactly what was about to happen. Energy that Kallus could have used an hour ago coursed through him, and he clawed at the ground violently he was almost on his knees when Thrawn kicked him lightly in the back sending him sprawling face first into the sand, he hit the ground with enough force to leave a noticeable depression in the sand._

_“You are making this harder than it has to be.” Thrawn said calmly. “This will end shortly, then we will visit your friends.”_

_Kallus dug his fingers into the sand again too weak to do anything but hope in vain that he’d be able to hold onto the shifting sand, firmly enough to prevent them from rolling him on his back again. In the end the sand slipped from his hands and found himself struggling not to choke on his own blood._

_“Relax Kallus, the worst has yet to come.” Thrawn assured him. Kallus struggled to lift his head, blood was in his nose, and he struggled to breathe, the glint of metal filled him cold fear. Suddenly the sand gave way underneath him and Kallus found himself plunging into darkness, Thrawn stared into the dark hole and frowned._

_“What type of witchcraft is this?” Thrawn asked, peering closer into the pit, seeming the least bit concerned about falling into it. “Kallus!”_

_Kallus was to busy falling to answer, the unexpected drop wasn’t enough to banish the weakness he was feeling if anything it made it worse. Kallus hit the sharp bottom with a sickening thud and screamed._

“Kallus!” Thrawn yelled, he was a lot closer than he was before. “Are you okay?”

Wait, that didn’t sound like Thrawn.

With a groan Kallus pried his eyes open, and glanced around, he wasn’t on Lothal anymore, he was upside down pressed against a corner of his shared quarters he was fully dressed and Zeb was staring down at him, his head pulsed, and he groaned again.

“What happened?”

“You fell out of bed.” Zeb said cautiously, Kallus sighed in relief, it was a dream, only a dream.

“Why does my mouth taste like soap?” Kallus asked wincing at the suds that filled his mouth.

“I don’t know,” Zeb said with a shrug. “Want to take my bunk for the night?”

Kallus’s aching head said yes, but his pride refused to let him admit he was afraid of ending up on the floor again.

“No, it’s fine.” Kallus said pulling away from the wall, he clambered up the ladder easily and buried himself underneath the mound of sheets Hera had given him.

“Alright.” Zeb said obviously confused, after a moment he climbed back into his own bunk and sighed. Kallus remained still waiting for Zeb’s snoring to start again, seconds turned into minutes and nothing came, Kallus frowned it looked like he wasn’t going to get his solitude anytime soon. Uncovering himself Kallus stared up the ceiling, the dream had terrified him enough to send him tumbling out of bed, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the one he had the other night, this one ended before the knife came down. Kallus yawned widely fumbling absentmindedly at the scar on his stomach, it still stung, but he was getting used to the pain, and learning to cope with the terror that gripped him whenever he saw it in the mirror, he’d learned a few tricks since the incident on Onderon all those years ago.

Still, Kallus hated the nightmares, they terrified him and left him on the verge of tears, he hated how weak he felt afterwards, he hated feeling like a freak, he hated that he’d never have kids, he hated Thrawn, he hated that bitter Rylothian healing soup Hera kept feeding him and that- Well the point was Kallus hated a lot of things at the moment but it wasn’t doing him any good, and the daily discomfort he was feeling only made things worse. There was something else that had been bothering Kallus since the nightmares started, he was almost too afraid to ask, but he needed to know, chewing on his lip Kallus leaned over the railing, Zeb caught sight of him and jumped.

“Kallus watch it!” Zeb warned reaching out to push him back up, Kallus brushed the Lasat’s hands away.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?” Zeb asked still trying to prod Kallus back into his bunk only to be swatted away each time.

Lasats never knew when to give up.

“Do I talk in my sleep?” Kallus asked, he wasn’t sure why it even mattered, there was nothing he could do about it, even if the answer was yes.

“No.” Zeb said a little too quickly, Kallus frowned, he if wasn’t hanging onto the railing he would have crossed his arms in disapproval. “I mean, you mumble sometimes like everyone else does..Why?”

“I just wanted to know.” Kallus said they both knew that was a lie, Kallus knew that for certain as he pulled himself upright. Zeb’s quick denial told Kallus he was afraid of him thinking the answer was yes, Zeb didn’t care much about his friends getting embarrassed over silly things, like singing badly, smeared lipstick or sleep-talking, he wouldn’t lie about it unless he had reason to believe it would cause more than embarrassment. That one word told Kallus more than he needed to know, Zeb knew something Kallus hadn’t wanted to tell him. Kallus hadn’t realized how hard he’d been trying to keep things under wraps until that moment and wouldn’t it have it, he was the one who took the wraps off, he’d halfway expected Thrawn to pop up and do it for him. Strangely enough Kallus felt slightly relieved despite failing one of his main goals, keeping his problems out of his roommate’s sight, now he had one less thing to worry about.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me three days to write- and rewrite- this chapter, but at least the action is picking up and it's a lot longer than the other chapters!

The wind whipped through his hair, streams of rain soaked his clothing, and Kallus laughed at the sheer madness of it all. The forecast had called for a sunny, low wind day, not a storm so fierce Kallus could barely make out the towering structure in front of him.  
In a way the storm worked in their favor; no would see their fighters coming.  
Being careful not to slip on the steps, Kallus eased the door open and slid inside, blinking owlishly in the dark until his eyes adjusted.  
The east control center had seen better days. Dust lined the windows and the flickering mainframes, somewhere in the room a processor’s red maintenance lights flickered in and out desperately. The building was poorly guarded for a government facility, and the voices that drifted downstairs told Kallus that most of the troopers were huddled upstairs around the heat generators.

“Hasn’t been a storm like this in decades..” One of the men complained. “My wife is going to kill me if I get in late again..”

“At least this time you’ve got an excuse.” Another laughed.

Kallus almost felt bad for what he was about to do, if things went his way the troopers would be lucky if they kept their jobs. Cautiously he eased forward almost hoping the troopers were smart enough to leave at least one of their men to guard the security room. Kallus found himself sorely disappointed; it seemed stormtroopers were as dumb as the rebellion liked to paint them. Not only was there no one patrolling the area the door was slightly ajar, open wide enough for Kallus to slip in without disturbing it.

He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, the alliance was correct, the empire was ineffective, that explained how a small band of rebels were able to outwit its forces even by slim margins. Taking a seat in the dusty metal chair, Kallus powered on the mainframe and silently prayed it would work, he wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t, just looking at the state of the place it wasn’t hard to tell the empire didn’t care about the station’s upkeep. Amazingly the holo-display frizzed to life and Kallus was torn between feeling overjoyed and suspicious, this was almost too easy.

Carefully he typed in an access code, triple checking it before hitting send. He had no clue how the alliance intelligence had gotten the codes, but they seemed to be working, Kallus just hoped the station wasn’t also sending out a silent alarm while lulling him into a false sense of security. Kallus paused purposefully, listening to the muffled buzz of the troopers’ conversation, there was no hitch in their tones, no indication they were aware of his presence; he relaxed and returned his attention to the display.

Kallus was honored the rebellion trusted him enough to give him such a crucial role in the siege, and so soon too, but he hadn’t expected it to be so paranoia inducing. Any moment the troopers could burst in and Kallus would find himself in a very sticky situation. With that in mind, Kallus navigated to the security protocols; taking a moment to decipher the binary before him.

Draven had called the control centers “the babies of security”, they controlled fairly weak security functions such as alarms, low-ranking energy shields and droids patrolling the insignificant sectors of Lothal. Disabling them would do little to disrupt the main artillery and defense systems, those were controlled by the “Mother”, the main command center, that area was highly fortified and an attempt to infiltrate it would likely lead to them being discovered before their fighters even arrived, so Draven had cut that from mission altogether, no one was touching that building. On the bright side each control center also controlled the power grids of its respective sector, and while the command center could reboot any failed security function, it would take time and hopefully the panic would buy enough time for the remaining operatives to play their part in disabling the factories so the fighters could finish the job.

“Phoenix this is Kiros, can you confirm your position?”

Kallus almost jumped out of his seat when his comlink blared to life, it sounded gratingly loud but in reality, it was barely above a whisper. Jua, the leader of the unit he was assisting had a naturally soft yet commanding voice, it was a paradox to Kallus but she was nice enough; Kallus just wished someone else chose the codenames. Every last one of the four member unit Jua scraped together were codenamed after birds.

Kallus was more than a little uncomfortable with his codename, Jua likely picked it as a reference to the Phoenix Squadron formerly led by his new commanding officer Hera. Jua probably thought of it as homage, but to Kallus, it was a cruel irony.  
Kallus had accidentally helped kill off most of its members on Atollon after all.

“I’ve accessed the system, awaiting your command Kiros,” Kallus said evenly, forcing himself to ground out the next part. “Phoenix out.”

Hopefully, after this was all over Kallus would never have to utter that word again. Jua cut the link like he’d expected her to. No doubt she was checking in with the remaining members of her unit. Kallus waited tensely for her to establish the open line and give her orders. Jua had made it clear she wanted the power grid failure to happen around Lothal at roughly the same time. The attack was happening in the upper sector of Lothal, so most of their activity served as a massive red herring. Minutes passed and Kallus started to worry, there was a high probability something had gone wrong and the mission would be aborted or worse and Kallus doubted the rebellion would be so willing to pick up the mission a third time, Ezra would be very disappointed.

“Elix, Phoenix, Canary, this is Kiros do you read?“ Kallus almost sighed in relief as Jua’s voice returned instead he answered affirmatively and was followed by a chorus of confirmation from the others. “Are you still in command of your stations?”

There was another chorus and Kallus felt mildly at home, it reminded him of when he was with the ISB back then there were more than four operatives per objective, but the layout was more or less the same; a lead and her agents. But unlike the empire the rebellion expected their lead operatives to take an active role in completing their objectives, Kallus used to spend a lot of time on the field even after he was promoted and had underlings to boss around, but he’d been considered a rarity; it wasn’t a requirement for senior agents to fight on the frontlines.

“Proceed with your directive.” Jua said.

Kallus’s fingers flew across the mainframe inputting commands in rapid fire; he was terrified the codes would fail and not in the way he needed them to, but he forced himself to trust the numbers, seconds later he hit the send key, the mainframe frizzed again its blue display flickering like a candle leaving Kallus biting his tongue worriedly until finally the whole room was plunged into darkness. A loud mechanical groan filled the air drowning out the thunderclaps. Kallus scrambled out of his chair making it to the window just in time to an ocean of blackness sweep across the campus; he could only imagine what the rest of Lothal looked like.

“The Raven has landed.” Jua crooned. “Return to your nests, you’ve done well. Kiros out.”

Kallus stood by the window a moment longer, until the troopers’ yelps of confusion drew him back to reality, amazing feat or not now was not the time to stand around admiring it. Kallus eased out into the hall and made his way to the door, the troopers were scrambling around upstairs letting out strings of curses directed towards the storm. The storm really was a blessing after all. The men didn’t even suspect foul play, they blamed the storm beating against the building. Kallus had almost made it to the front door when he noticed the red lights again, they blinked slowly and deliberately Kallus frowned worriedly, they should have gone out with the others. Kallus inched towards them worriedly; he must have done something wrong.  
“Karabast.” Kallus mumbled, he still had no clue what the word meant but it he’d heard Zeb use it enough times to know the context it should be said in, and this was it.

“Good evening Kallus.” Kallus stared at the processor in disbelief. “I see you have learned a new word, I’m afraid it doesn’t exist within the basic language, but I will be sure to remember it.”  
Kallus knew that voice but he couldn't make sense of it, Thrawn wasn't on Lothal the Alliance had promised them that. Cold terror wrapped its tendrils around his heart; it skipped several painful beats before deciding to flutter restlessly against his ribcage, alarms went off in his head but Kallus didn’t even squeak. For the first time that night the rebel intelligence was wrong and it had to be about the scariest little detail.

“Do have any more words you would like to share?” Thrawn asked curiously.

  
_Yes._

  
Kallus had a lot of words he'd like to use right now, none of them were very nice and it was likely none of them would keep him alive much longer if they slipped out. Throwing himself against the farthest wall, Kallus ran down the length of it blindly hoping it would lead him to the exit. He was having trouble remembering his way for all he knew he was headed back to the security room, even with the dim moonlight filtering through the windows Kallus struggled to make sense of his surroundings the walls were slanted, the windows blurred and confusing even the floor seemed to shift under his feet, but most startling of all Kallus realized he could easily make out the windows and floor tiles, Kallus had decent night vision thanks to his mother, but it was no way on par with a full-blooded Chiss, if he could see the dark tiles, Thrawn could clearly see him.

The quiet clicking of boots assured Kallus that Thrawn was having no problem tailing him, there would be no hiding in the shadows.

"There is no point in running, Kallus."

Even though he was on his feet and uninjured this time, Kallus was afraid the man was right, that thought did nothing to slow him down, he wasn't about to sit back and surrender without a fight. The strike would start in minutes, this would be the movement that assured the citizens and the empire the rebellion was only growing in influence, Thrawn's appearance could very well ruin that, if they remained in the dark.

“Do not concern yourself, Kallus, I am not here to ruin your demonstration,” Thrawn said effectively freaking Kallus out, Chiss couldn't read minds but Thrawn was getting pretty close. "I am only interested in seeing how you are faring."

Kallus glanced back at the shadowy figure behind him, Thrawn's red eyes were the only distinguishable feature that set him apart from any other humanoid in the dim lighting, even his trademark blue skin appeared an off gray. Thrawn was an odd one, no one could deny that, a normal person wouldn't conduct a wellness check on a person they had brutalized, but Kallus had no doubt Thrawn would and that was one of the things that made him so terrifying, one moment Thrawn was having him tortured, threatening to cut his tongue out and the next he was tending to his wounds then stalking him down to check on him months later. There was a method to his madness Kallus was sure of it but it was painfully confusing.

"Tell me, Kallus, have you recovered sufficiently since we last met?"

Met, like they had gone out for dinner and Kallus ended up with food poisoning, it was sickening but Kallus knew better than to respond. His nerves were already frayed and opening his mouth would likely lead to a meltdown, then he'd be a sitting duck. So Kallus bit his tongue and kept running until he hit a wall.

"There is no point in running." Thrawn said almost fondly. "You are not in danger."

Kallus pulled away from the wall and ran his hands over it desperately searching for the door.  
How did he always end up in such bad situations?

Thrawn made no move to advance, he watched from a distance idly clasping his hands as he watched Kallus frantically bang on the wall.

"You seem well Kallus." Thrawn noted. "But you should be aware that the process is not over, if you are not careful you will end up dead."

Kallus paused in pursuit of finding the door, was that a threat or a warning? Kallus couldn't tell but it put him on edge, his breathing became ragged and not for the first time that night he felt scared and alone, the comlink on his wrist was forgotten as was the blaster strapped to his belt. It was almost funny, the tools to his freedom were the last on his mind.

"And what good will that do either of us?" Thrawn continued, then nodded. It seemed he was completely unaffected by the one-sided conversation he was having.

Kallus wrinkled his nose, the confusion he felt was almost equal to his fear, his death would complete the honor toll Thrawn had started, it would finish Thrawn's agenda; his death would do Thrawn much good. Thrawn didn't agree and it was upsetting, only because it cast doubt on Kallus's original conclusion and robbed him of what little closure it brought. Thrawn seemed to sense his confusion and continued speaking or perhaps he just enjoyed the sound of his voice.

"Your ties have been cut, your loyalty is unburdened, the rebellion has much to teach you, but you are not their prize to claim." Thrawn said, beneath the smoothness of his voice Kallus heard a warning and felt a stab of anger, he wasn't _anyone's_ prize, especially not Thrawn's.  
Traditionally, the dishonored's corpse was left on display for one rotation, then divided into several pieces. Those parts were distributed among the mob- his mother neglected to explain what they did with those pieces- with the overseer taking a larger part as a mark of honor. Kallus had figured that was why Thrawn had a chunk of his intestines cut out, but the conclusions Kallus had come to in those months had been fueled by pain and grief and in hindsight it was possible Thrawn had at least offered the cutting to his Deathtroopers which would leave him without a spoil or a prize to be accurate.

If Thrawn didn't want him dead yet, then he probably wasn't interested in claiming a dismembered body part and Kallus was scared of the murky alternatives, he wasn't familiar enough with Csilla to know what counted as an acceptable reward, his mother had focused on the gory details., but Kallus could think of a few human prizes and none of them were pleasant.

"The door is on the far left, we will meet again at a later junction," Thrawn said finality evident in his voice. "Your friends are waiting, Kallus."

The whole situation was crazy but that was enough to get Kallus moving, there was more than his life and dignity at stake, the alliance was about to be blindsided and he wasn’t stupid enough to pick a fight with Thrawn alone his nerves made sure of that. Kallus found the door and hit the wet street running mud splashed with every step, staining his new boots a strange greenish color but Kallus didn’t even notice.

“Kiros, Kiros!” Kallus yelled into his comlink. “Jua!”

Under normal circumstances, Kallus would never break protocol, but at the moment he was too panicked to care.

“Phoenix,” Jua responded sharply a warning in her voice, she was a stickler for codename protocol. “What is your situation?”

“Thrawn is here.”

“Impossible.”

“He’s here Kiros, we need to fall back!”

“The strike has already started Phoenix,” Jua said lowly uncertainty evident in her voice. “How heavy is he hitting?”

It took Kallus a moment to realize she assumed Thrawn had brought a battalion of some sort with him, Kallus hadn’t even considered that possibility.

“I think he’s alone but I’m not sure.” Kallus admitted hating how frantic he sounded.

“If he’s alone, he wasn’t expecting us, that’ll make it easier,” Jua said, she obviously didn’t know Thrawn. Thrawn didn’t need an army to be a formidable opponent and things were never easy when he was around but Jua seemed confident in her line of thought. “Get back to your nest. I’ll give the others a heads up.”

Kallus was about to protest but Jua quickly cut the line, leaving him alone in the darkened streets of Lothal, the last time he’d been in the dark on this planet it hadn’t ended well. Fear started to strangle him again; he resisted the urge to cast fleetingly glances behind him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Thrawn was somewhere in the darkness waiting to pounce on him.

By the time he made it back to the Ghost his panic had strengthened to the point he completely forgot about using his comlink to contact the Ghost, he clawed at its hull like a wild animal trying to get its occupants’ attention. It turned out his friends mistook him for just that, a wild animal, armed with a rattling can Ezra climbed out the Ghost followed closely by a bo-rifle wielding Lasat.

“Is it another one of those squirrel things?” Zeb asked in disgust.

“I don’t know, let me shake the can at it and see if it goes away.” Ezra said easing down the ladder, Kallus didn’t even register the exchange and moved quickly into the faint light the Ghost was throwing off, startling Ezra who flung the can directly at his face. “It isn’t a squirrel!”

Kallus rubbed at his eye and scowled, that was going to leave a mark but at least the pain seemed to clear his mind if only temporarily.

“Of course I’m not a squirrel!” Kallus growled.

“How were we supposed to know?” Zeb asked with a sheepish shrug. “You sounded like one.”

“Yeah, is your com broken or something? Hera thought we were being invaded again, those squirrels really like our chunky nut butter.” Ezra said quickly retrieving his can from the ground. “We’ll need this again.”  
Zeb nodded in agreement.

“Jua wanted us to head back to our posts, we’ve finished.” Kallus said deciding not to respond to the question about his comlink.

“It’ll be our turn soon then!” Ezra said cheerfully, even Zeb looked pleased, Kallus frowned he still struggled to understand their joy of rushing into a battle with a high chance of failure. They should be cautiously optimistic not sounding like they were about to win the lottery, but Kallus was slowly learning to accept their odd ways  
.  
Rebels believed in the impossible, Thrawn’s arrival wouldn’t disrupt that belief at all.

Still, Kallus struggled to work up the nerve to tell them, in the end, Jua saved him the trouble, she not only brought news of Thrawn’s arrival but something else much more devastating. The weight that fell over the Ghost was tangible, they knew Thrawn well enough to share Kallus’s wariness, but not his terror and they pressed on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, this was a struggle to write, tell me if you see any errors, please tell me, I checked it with four different online proofreaders- not including myself- and I still don't trust it.  
> The next chapter will be up in a bit.  
> God bless!


End file.
